Israeli forces shoot 2 Palestinian youths with live fire in Burin

Jan. 10, 2015 12:51 P.M. (Updated: Jan. 11, 2015 4:05 P.M.)

NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Two Palestinian teenagers were injured Saturday after Israeli forces opened fire with live bullets during clashes with locals in the village of Burin south of Nablus in the northern West Bank.

Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian official who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma'an that Abbas Jamal Asous, 18, was shot with a live bullet in his thigh during clashes between Israeli forces and dozens of Palestinian youths in the village.

Daghlas added that Asous was taken to the Rafidia Governmental Hospital, where his injuries were reported to be between light and moderate.

Fourteen-year-old Muhammad Yasser Najjar was also injured with a live bullet in his leg during the clashes.

An Israeli military spokeswoman did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

The villages south of Nablus are frequent sites of settler violence and Palestinian clashes with Israeli forces as they are located beside the notoriously violent Israeli settlements of Yitzhar and Bracha.

Settlers frequently attack a number of local villages and prevent farmers from reaching their lands, according to UNOCHA, in addition to attacks on local olive trees.

As a result, local youths sometimes respond by targeting vehicles belonging to settlers on the area's main roads.

Settler violence against Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank is systematic and ignored by Israeli authorities, who rarely intervene in the violent attacks or prosecute the perpetrators.